Nissan REALLY Wants You To Finance Your Next Car or SUV

While Nissan is no stranger to discounts, incentives for financing have steadily crept up. In many instances, Nissan is offering hefty bonuses worth up to $3,000 to tempt buyers to take out a loan through its captive finance company, Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. (NMAC). The automaker is even offering an ongoing deal on select models promising consumers $0 down, 0% APR, and 0 payments for 90 days.

For example, Muranos currently offer a choice between up to $6,000 in cash incentives or 0% APR for 36 months plus up to $5,250 in bonuses. On a $34,000 vehicle, the 0% promo would cost roughly $28,750, while opting for the rebates would come out to $30,211 assuming 3 years at 5%. That's an advantage of nearly $1,500 simply for taking out a loan through Nissan.

In the case of a 2019 Altima SV, Nissan is offering a $2,500 rebate or 0% APR for 36 months plus $3,000 in so-called NMAC Cash. In contrast, incentives for competitors like the 2019 Toyota Camry remain nearly flat, with a choice between a modest $1,000 in cashback or 1.9% financing for 60 months. Meanwhile, a 2019 Chevy Malibu offers no special rates for financing whatsoever.

Unfortunately, there are some catches with Nissan's current offers.

First, most buyers may find taking out a 3-year loan to be an unappealing option from a payment standpoint. For example, even at 0% APR, a $25,000 Altima has an estimated payment of $611/month. What Nissan isn't advertising very clearly is the fact that a 60-month option raises the rate to 2.4% APR. There's also no 72-month option whatsoever on vehicles like the Altima, Rogue, Murano, and others.

Even if you're able to take advantage of Nissan's 0/0/0 promotion, one can't help drawing a comparison with a somewhat notorious offer from Mitsubishi back in the early 2000s involving zero percent APR, zero money down, and zero payments for 12 months. A key difference here is that Mitsubishi's bargain-basement rate ended once a buyer began making payments. Nissan's offer sounds similar but doesn't have the same catch.

Still, one has to wonder whether or not Nissan's strategy is having an impact. According to our records, the 0/0/0 promo debuted back in January and remains a big part of the company's advertising. Last month, the automaker posted a 15.4% drop in sales, and a recent report says the parent company is gearing up to cut over 10,000 jobs globally in an attempt to stem its losses following a reported 90% drop in profit.

Nissan offers can vary by region. Figures here are based on a Los Angeles location.

Update on July 25: Nissan has reportedly announced a 99% drop in operating profit and a plan to cut up to 12,500 jobs worldwide.

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